Dead Meat Box Set, Vol. 2 | Days 4-6

by Clausen, Nick

  “Tell us what happened,” Jonas says, and it sounds more like a request than a demand.

  Dennis already likes Jonas a lot better than Silas. The brothers look an awful lot alike, yet Jonas seems to be a little older, his demeanor is more calm, and he doesn’t make that eerie grinning face all the time. Also, he doesn’t act nearly as hostile towards Mom as his brother.

  Silas, on the other hand, reminds Dennis of a toy he had when he was small. It was a hard plastic ball full of holes in which you could load a full water balloon. Then you press a button and a hidden timer would start inside the ball, counting down until a nail would puncture the balloon. You then had to throw the ball back and forth, and whoever was unlucky enough to hold it once the timer ran out would get soaked in water.

  Dennis never liked that game, and he never played it much—he didn’t have many friends to play with, either, but that wasn’t why he didn’t like the game—it was the unpredictability of the ball. You knew the risk, but you never knew when it would come.

  Silas is like that ball.

  And the button has already been pushed. The timer is ticking.

  “It’s true that we made our way in here without Holger’s consent,” Mom begins, talking in a low, steady voice. “But all we wanted was security. We were forced to leave our own home when the dead arrived. We crashed our car a mile from here, and we just barely made it on foot. We only wanted to stay here for a few days, until the situation got better. And Holger seemed okay with it at first, but either he was lying, or he changed his mind, because suddenly, he held a gun to my son. The dead were still outside, but Holger didn’t care; he told us to leave, or he’d kill us.” Mom shakes her head almost imperceptibly, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Holger was mentally ill, and the situation must have fueled his paranoia. I regret what I had to do, but he left me no choice.”

  A moment of silence in the living room as Mom stops talking and looks down at her hands.

  Dennis notices the brothers exchange another look.

  “That makes sense,” Jonas says, shrugging. “We saw a crashed car up the road. And we knew Holger was kind of nuts.”

  “Yeah, but something’s still bugging me about it,” Silas says, eyeing Mom. “I just can’t quite place it.” Then, suddenly, he looks at Dennis. “Is your mama telling the truth, Dennis? The whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help her God?”

  Dennis opens his mouth, but he can’t get a word out. So, he just nods emphatically.

  “Please leave my son out of it,” Mom says with a sudden firmness.

  “What’s the deal with him, anyway?” Silas asks. “I don’t mean to be rude, but is he, like, autistic or something?”

  “I had a brain fever when I was little,” Dennis blurts out, surprising himself.

  Silas nods. “I see. Sorry about that, kid. Good thing you got yourself a right old tiger mom, huh?” He looks back at Mom, grinning once more.

  Mom doesn’t answer.

  “Silas,” Jonas says, getting up. “Let’s talk in the kitchen. You two stay right here.”

  Silas gets up and brings his rifle. The brothers leave the living room, but they stay within eyesight of Mom and Dennis. Then they begin deliberating in hushed voices, Silas pointing towards the living room now and then.

  Dennis glances sideways at Mom, almost afraid to turn his head. “Mom?” he croaks.

  “Sssh,” she hushes. “It’s okay, Dennis. Just let me handle this. I promise you it’ll be okay.”

  Dennis wants to trust her, he really does, but the situation makes him very nervous.

  The brothers keep talking for several minutes. Once in a while, Dennis catches a word. Silas seems to turn a little agitated at times, but Jonas talks him back down.

  Finally, after almost ten minutes, they come back into the living room.

  “Right, here’s how we’re going to do things,” Silas says. “Since me and my dear brother here can’t seem to reach an agreement about whether to show you guys the benefit of the doubt or not, we’ve decided to err on the side of caution. You’ll both get to stay here, but we’re keeping you locked up for now.” He points at Mom. “You’ll get a room downstairs all to yourself. That way, no one will get hurt.”

  “This is a temporary solution,” Jonas adds. “If things go smoothly, we’ll be able to let you out.”

  “What does that mean, exactly?” Mom asks, talking slowly and deliberately. “’Go smoothly’?”

  “We just need to get to know you guys better, that’s all,” Jonas says. “Until then, it’s better for all of us not to take any chances.”

  Dennis looks from Jonas to Mom, waiting for Mom to say something, to protest, but she just stares back at Jonas.

  The way he said it, it almost sounded reasonable. But the thought of them keeping Mom locked up like a prisoner makes Dennis’s throat all tight.

  “What about me then?” he blurts out.

  Both Silas and Jonas look at him.

  “That depends,” Silas says. “If you act like a good boy and behave yourself, then we’ve got no problem and you can do pretty much what you want.”

  “We could use a couple of hands,” Jonas tells him. “We need to prepare this place for when our family arrives.”

  “But—” Dennis begins.

  Mom cuts him off by turning her head and looking at him. “You can do that, Dennis. You can help them out.”

  Dennis frowns. “But, Mom, what about you?”

  “I’ll be fine. You heard what they said. It’s just for a few days.”

  “A few days, a few weeks,” Silas says, bopping his hand. “We’ll have to see how it goes.”

  Mom doesn’t take her eyes off Dennis. It’s like she’s trying to tell him something without words. “That sounds fair, doesn’t it, Dennis?”

  Dennis isn’t sure what the right thing to say is. He feels the brothers watching him closely. So, he just nods quickly.

  “Great,” Silas says, clapping his hands together, then picking up the rifle. “Let’s all go downstairs and get you checked in.”

  TWENTY-NINE

  It’s around dinnertime when Christine begins to feel that something is really wrong.

  They’ve been on the boat all day, trying to kill time by playing cards with Mommy. Daddy has kept mostly to himself, helping Uncle Kent whenever he needed it.

  Anton wanted to play games on his phone, but Mommy and Daddy took it and said he couldn’t get it back just now. When Anton asked why, Daddy just muttered something about keeping low—Christine didn’t know what that meant.

  Christine has been dozing off a couple of times; the low rumble from the boat’s engine is very soothing.

  But each time she would awaken with a jerk, sit up abruptly and look around. Each time, Mommy would be there, assuring her that everything was okay.

  Still, Christine didn’t feel okay.

  She couldn’t shake the image of the old lady right before she plummeted into the water. Or Anton muttering: “She came for me.”

  The cabin has only two small windows, both seated in the ceiling, showing a cutout of the sky. Christine would look up now and then to see it change color as the day wore on. Now and then, a seagull or a white cloud drifted by, but mostly, it was just blue sky.

  They ate dinner in the cabin. Uncle Kent even joined them. He looked at Christine and Anton only briefly, sending them vague smiles and asking about school.

  He didn’t care about the answers, though. Christine could tell his mind was somewhere else.

  Then, just as she had noticed the sky turning darker, Christine feels the atmosphere change.

  It begins as Uncle Kent comes down into the cabin. He looks at Daddy, who is lying on his bed, his hand resting over his eyes.

  “Steffen?” Kent says. “You awake?”

  “Huh?” Daddy mutters, looking around. As he saw Kent, he immediately sat up. “What’s wrong?”

  “I think we’ve got a problem.”

  Christine immediately feels
fear in her stomach. She looks to Anton, who looks to Mommy, who looks at Daddy, who looks at Kent.

  “What is it?” Daddy whispers.

  “Please come up with me.”

  Kent turns and leaves and Daddy gets up to follow him.

  “Honey?” Mommy says.

  “I’ll be right back,” Daddy says and closes the door behind him.

  “What’s wrong?” Anton asks Mommy.

  “I don’t know. Probably nothing.”

  “Is it something with the boat?”

  “No, I’m sure everything’s fine.”

  “It’s not fine! Kent just said he thinks we have a problem! Stop lying to me, Mom.”

  As Mom and Anton begin bickering, Christine uses the opportunity to move to the farthest end of the cabin. She sits down on the bed closest to the rear end of the boat and leans back.

  Just overhead, there’s a small tube sticking out from the ceiling. Through it, she can feel a slight breeze of fresh air. She noticed it earlier, but she didn’t tell anyone else about it. Listening intently, she can just make out Daddy and Uncle Kent talking.

  “… still pulling right …”

  “… how come?”

  “… thought it was something to do with one of the propellers, but everything looks fine …”

  “… then what?”

  “… noticed the rope … you see it?”

  “… see what?”

  There’s a pause in the conversation. Mom and Anton are still arguing. Christine can tell from their voices they’re both scared. She can’t blame them; her own heart is racing. She concentrates firmly on listening to the tube.

  For half a minute or so, there’s nothing.

  Then, Daddy’s voice: “Holy shit … been dragging her along all the way?”

  “… looks like it …”

  “… that even possible? I mean, she should’ve drowned by now …”

  “… no idea …”

  “… can’t we just cut it loose?”

  “… no use … completely tangled up in the rudder …”

  “… then what?”

  “… don’t know … keep going, I guess … hope for the best …”

  The conversation seems to be over.

  So does the one Mommy and Anton were having; Anton is sitting with his back turned and arms crossed, Mommy is staring down at the floor.

  Christine moves discretely away from the tube in the ceiling.

  A minute later, Daddy comes back down. He smiles at them, and if Christine hadn’t heard him talking to Uncle Kent, the smile would’ve looked convincing.

  “What was wrong?” Mommy asks.

  “Nothing,” Daddy says. “Kent just thought he saw another boat coming this way, but it turned out to be nothing. Just the light reflecting on the waves, I guess.”

  Both Mommy and Anton look as though they accept what Daddy just said. The atmosphere turns a little less tense.

  “How long before we reach England, Daddy?” Anton asks.

  “Oh, just a few more hours. We should probably try and get some rest while we can, right?”

  Daddy lies back down, places his hand across his eyes again and apparently goes back to sleep.

  But Christine can tell he isn’t sleeping. He’s just lying there, thinking.

  She tries to make sense of what she heard him talk with Uncle Kent about. Something about something being dragged along. What could that be?

  Then, Christine’s ears pick up another sound. One that cuts through the rumble of the engine. It’s very low and she can only hear it because it’s very close.

  She turns her head to look at the wall.

  Something is scraping on the other side. Which is very odd, because the outside of the wall is underwater.

  And, even more odd, it sounds almost like fingernails.

  THIRTY

  “Thank God for McD, huh?”

  William wolfs down half a cheeseburger, then looks around the car at the rest of them, talking with his mouth full.

  “I mean, even when the world’s ending, they’re determined to stay open and serve crappy food.”

  Dan can’t help but smile. They’re once again packed into William’s car, but this time with the added passenger Eli, who’s sitting in the trunk next to Ozzy.

  They just came out of a McDonald’s drive-thru, and all of them have a brown paper bag. William and Ali are the only ones who seem to have an appetite, both of them digging into their burgers with gusto.

  Dan’s father is looking down at his bag, as though hoping to find something down there which might actually be appetizing.

  Dorte is just gazing out the window, like she didn’t even notice the paper bag on her lap.

  Eli is carefully picking out the pickles from his burger and offering them to Ozzy who swallows them eagerly.

  Nasira is eating fries with her usual calmness, taking out one at a time, looking at it, then putting it in her mouth.

  Dan has gotten used to her almost eerie calmness by now. At first, he thought it was some sort of coping mechanism; that Nasira was really panicking on the inside but showing a brave face for her younger brother. But she really does seem at peace. In fact, she seems like the only one who’s genuinely okay with the situation.

  Dan doesn’t feel particularly hungry himself, even though he hasn’t eaten anything for … how long is it? He can’t even remember.

  So, he decides to at least give it a try. He takes out the burger and unwraps it. The smell of it is enough for his stomach to curl up.

  The first bite is more of nibble, and it goes down like clay.

  The second tastes a little better.

  The third follows quickly.

  And before he knows it, he’s licking the empty paper, reaching for the second burger.

  Five minutes later, he’s leaning back with a heavy sigh, slurping up the last of the milkshake, the empty bag crumbled up by his feet. His stomach looks like he just ate a couple of cannonballs, and it feels great.

  “It’s reached Germany,” Dan’s father says, breaking the silence. “So much for the border blockades, huh?”

  Dan realizes the radio is going, a female voice telling about infected people having penetrated the border despite the best effort from the German military.

  “… several affected individuals showing up all over northern Germany, including Hamburg …”

  “Shit,” William mutters. “Hamburg, that’s a pretty fucking big city, isn’t it?”

  “Close to two million,” Henrik says, reaching over and turning off the radio.

  “All right, Eli,” William says, sipping from his Coke, then burping loudly. “Let’s change the subject. Where exactly did you see the helicopter?”

  “Uhm … it was right outside the city limit, I guess,” Eli mutters from the trunk.

  “Huh?” William asks.

  “Right outside the city,” Dan says.

  They drive on for another ten minutes. Dan is close to dozing off a couple of times. He notices William keep checking the rearview mirror to make sure Sebastian is still behind them.

  They exit the city and meet a couple of cars parked or crashed by the side of the road. They all notice, but none of them comment.

  “We just passed the city limit,” William remarks.

  “Okay, then slow down,” Eli says. “It was around here someplace. I think.”

  “You don’t sound very convinced,” William says, but lets off the gas anyway.

  Dan looks out. The area is flat, desolate, not much else than heather and small spruce trees growing here.

  “What side of the road?” William asks.

  “I … I’m not sure.”

  William sighs.

  “Okay,” Dan’s father says. “Everyone please keep an eye out.”

  They drive on in silence for another couple of miles. Then suddenly, Ali says: “There!”

  Dan looks at the boy pointing eagerly. This part of the moor is more heavily packed with trees. About fifty
yards from the road he sees the bright yellow of the medical helicopter, halfway hidden between the trees.

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Eli says. “That’s the one.”

  William pulls over and parks the car. Dan looks back and sees Sebastian pulling up behind them.

  “It looks abandoned,” Henrik remarks. “What’s the plan? Do we go and check?”

  “I think we need to make sure no one else is around first,” William says, scanning the surroundings. “Dan, are you up for another excursion?”

  “Sure. What do you want me to do?”

  “We go out and split up and check the area around the helicopter.”

  “What are we checking for?” Dan asks. “Zombies?”

  “Anything, really. I just don’t want any surprises. Seems unlikely no one noticed a helicopter sitting out here in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Well, it’s actually hard to see from the road,” Henrik remarks.

  “I know, but better safe than sorry. You coming, Dan?”

  “I could join you,” Dorte offers.

  “I think it’s better only two of us go,” William says. “The more people, the more attention we draw if anything is out there.”

  He opens the door and gets out. Dan follows his example, and William opens the trunk, letting out Ozzy.

  Sebastian gets out of his car and lights up a cigarette.

  Dan can hear the girl—Lærke—gasp with indignation from inside the car. “Daddy! You told me you stopped smoking!”

  “Sorry, sweetie,” he says, inhaling deeply. “Today doesn’t count, okay?”

  She crosses her arms. “I’m telling Mom.”

  William gestures to Sebastian. “We’re going to check the area. You okay with staying here?”

  Sebastian blows out smoke, coughs briefly, then nods. “Sure. I’ll keep an eye on the road.”

  Dan and William split up and go in different directions. Dan walks slowly, looking all around, listening intently for any sounds. It’s already past suppertime and the trees cast long, cool shadows. Birds are singing somewhere, and a bee buzzes by lazily.

  He soon loses sight of William and Ozzy and the cars too, as he walks in a broad circle around the helicopter. As he reaches the other side, the trees suddenly stop and offer him a wide view. The moor stretches out for as long as he can see. There are no people in sight, living or dead.